Hey ladies,

I know, it's October and I'm just now doing my blog post on last month's Ipsy glam bag. I've been busy with school and such, please bare with me. So the theme of this month was Classic Beauty. It feature products from companies such as Cailyn Cosmetics, Chella, Freeman Beauty, Elizabeth Mott, Jesse's Girl, J. Cat Beauty, Full Repair, NYX, Pop Beauty, Skyn Iceland, StarLooks, Victoria Jackson and Butter London. There was 14 different products that were given out this month. Here's what the bag looked like.

I guess this bag matches with the theme somewhat. I got products this month from Freeman Beauty, Elizabeth Mott, NYX, StarLooks, and J. Cat Beauty. I've had products from all but Elizabeth Mott before so I was pretty comfortable about the other products for the most part. 

Honeycrisp

The first product I got was this lipstick in the color Honeycrisp from J. Cat Beauty. I actually broke it as  I was applying it. Heavy hand or poor quality? Nonetheless, I continued to try it out. The color alone just looks horrible with my skin tone. Maybe if I play around with more lip liner colors and such I can figure something out. Texture, I guess it was sort of smooth. I was completely distracted by the color to even pay attention.

Next were these Freeman Beauty masks that came in in purifying, brightening, and hydrating. I tried both the brightening (rose pink) and the hydrating (blue). Both did its job, however putting them on was a hard task. The actual facial paper stuck together and it was very hard to unfold. The cut out for the eyes weren't big enough for me and it felt uncomfortable having them on. Other than that, they did what they were supposed to! With beauty comes pain right?

Obsidian 

I got this black kohl pencil eyeliner from StarLooks in the color Obsidian. It's very creamy and glides pretty smoothly. The only thing that I didn't like was how it didn't last all too long. In a few hours, it looked smudged and faded away. Maybe if I put a liquid liner on top of it, it will last longer. Any tips for making pencil liners last longer? For the waterline, I'm not sure how long it will last only because I dislike putting black eyeliner on my waterline. 

Next was this It's so BIG mascara from Elizabeth Mott. It's intentions are to be a volumizing mascara. The mascara has an hourglass shape that's primarily intended to give volume and length to your lashes. For the volume, yes, It did pretty much give me some more volume. As for length, not so much. Maybe because I was comparing it to my They're Real! mascara from Benefit. It also smudged some on my lips before it got to fully dry. Boo! Say no to smudging mascara. It lasts pretty long though and doesn't make my eyelashes feel heavy either. 

Cryptonite

Last but not least, I got the NYX eyeshadow in Cryptonite. It is very pigmented and creamy. Plus it's also very blendable. I used it for a soft smokey eye that wasn't too dark or harsh. It was perfect!

This month was a hit and miss for me. I'm grateful for all the products and I will be working on new ways to try and enhance the products to put them to better use. Sneak peaks of October are being posted and it seems like as each month passes, more products are available to get. It really creates a variety and the teasers are so fun! Next month, I'll definitely post a review faster than I did for this month. Are you an Ipsy subscriber? Until next time, see you soon!

Review: Benefit They're Real! Mascara

Hey ladies, 

So I had the pleasure of being on of Ipsy's and Benefit's lash bash hostess. As I couldn't actually host the part myself (later post), I was able to have the honor of getting one of Benefit's They're Real! Mascara for myself in the regular size. (Retailing at $23) I just have to say from the start, I absolutely LOVE this mascara. & I will tell you why. 

This is what the mascara looks like. Don't be alarmed by the picture, it's a bit bigger than what it's showing. The packaging is just amazing because it's a sleek shiny gray/silver that makes the "Real" in They're Real stand out. That's the whole point of the mascara right? To look like you have falsies without actually having to wear falsies. 

What I have to say I love most about the mascara is the way the brush is actually made. The brush is a typical straight edged brush with the same sized bristles that cover it completely. However, the tip of the brush has the bristles sticking out on an angle. I tried to get a good picture of it but my phone just wouldn't focus on it. (Time for a professional camera huh?) What I love about this part of the brush, is that it's perfect for getting just the right amount of product on my lower lashes. 

This is just perfect in particular for someone like me because I don't generally like to wear mascara on my lower lashes. Only because I ALWAYS end up getting it on my waterline then end up having to put eyeliner on it to blend it all in. I don't like this because generally the eyeliner and mascara tend to smudge and by the end of the day, my eyes just look horrible. I might as well had put the mascara on and cried all day. However, with this mascara, using the top bristles to coat my lashes then the rest of the brush to smooth it out gives my lashes this perfect coat of mascara. It's wonderful!

Please bare with me. I couldn't get my photo editor to get both of the pictures to come correct in the editor. So this is what my lashes look like with just about 3 coats of the mascara. I have very light, thin, and sparse lashes. It takes a lot to make them look wonderful. This mascara gives me awesome length when applying it. Definitely gets better the more coats that you put. Also a tip would be to put the mascara as close to your lash line as possible and wiggle your way up. This helps to darken the lash line making it appear fuller. The mascara doesn't give me that much volume unless I load it one, but nonetheless it's doing its job. It really looks like I have natural looking falsies on. Talk about a product that lives up to its name ;).

Now, I made this picture in black and white so you can really see the differences of my lashes with and without the mascara. My eyes on the left are with the mascara and my eyes on the right are without. (My gosh, what a difference mascara can make) It truly helped to lift my lashes. They already practically curl by themselves, but the mascara just gives it that extra bit of enthusiasm. It gave them such length and like I said, if I put on a few more coats, I would have loads of volume. 

Not only does this mascara define, life, give volume, and lengthen, it also lasts a really long time. You know how you put some mascaras on and after a while, it's like it just drifted away? Yea, it doesn't happen with They're Real! It will last you literally from the moment you put it on, to the moment you decide to take it off. Trust me. Testing it out, I fell asleep with it still on and I woke to loads of product still present on my lashes. Not to worry though! When you take it off with a gentle makeup remover, you won't lose any lashes either! Sometimes my lashes tend to rip off when taking mascara off or even just by playing with. However, it didn't happen with this mascara. 

This mascara is like the BEST mascara I've ever had. I love it so much. Definitely worth the $23 and I would go back and buy more when I run out of. Now only if they made a drug store mascara that could compete. ;) You can layer it with different mascaras if you don't want to give up your ultimate favorite one either. It's easy to remove and lasts all day. What more would you want from a mascara? Have you tried They're Real! Mascara? If not, I challenge you to give it a try! Tell me how you like it. From one beauty lover to another, see you soon!

Avocado hair mask for Dry & Damaged hair/Split Ends

Hey ladies, 

So this weekend I experimented with some avocado and other ingredients for a hair mask that will nourish my hair after applying heat to it since school started. Before the hair mask, my hair felt very dry. You can practically see my split ends from a distance. I didn't want to just hurry up and cut away the split ends before trying to repair them. My mother bought an avocado, that I know she wasn't going to eat, so I used it for the mask. I was looking around for some recipes to use with the avocado, and I saw one from a website I can't remember. I tweaked it around a bit for my hair. Since it's long, thick, and curly. So here's the recipe that I used. 

• Half of an Avocado (mines was already large so it was enough)
• 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon of Honey
• 1 Egg yolk

To start off, I just used a bigger sized bowl since my avocado was fairly large. I was going to use the whole avocado only because my hair is really thick, but the half was just perfect. You can save the other half in a container for your next hair mask or just eat it on some toast or a sandwich. Then I just added the rest of the ingredients. 2 tablespoons of EVOO, 1 tablespoon of Honey, and 1 Egg yolk. Now in order for me to separate the egg white from the egg yolk, I took an egg and with a fork I punctured a hole in the bottom. I then watched it carefully as all the egg white came out so that the egg yolk wouldn't come out with it. After that, I just put the egg yolk with the rest. Using a fork, I mashed all the ingredients together until there wasn't really any clumps left over. 

This is what it should look like 

 Now it's time for application. What I felt was best to do, was to actually apply it in the shower. Not while taking a shower, but in the tub so that if there's any mess (which there was) I can easily wash it down the drain. Another way that I made this easier was to first split my hair in half and then apply it. It wasn't really thick, so do expect a bit of a mess. It also depends on how much of each ingredient you actually put into it. I started from my ends first and worked my way to my roots making sure to cover all of my hair and use up all of the product. After you put it all in, just tied it up in a bun or clip it up for 20 minutes. 

This is what it looked like after putting it in my hair 

After 20 minutes, you want to rinse it out of your hair. Since I put 2 tablespoons of EVOO in my mask, it felt a bit oily when I was washing it out. After, you just want to make sure to shampoo before conditioning just to get any extra out of your hair. I let my hair rest for a while at its natural state (curly), then I went ahead and straightened my hair. 

When I straightened it, I noticed how sleek and shiny it looked. It was really soft and most of my split ends seemed to disappear. It was easier to work with and just a whole lot better. I was definitely satisfied with the results. I highly recommend this if your hair is feeling dry and damaged. Also if you have some split ends. I will definitely be doing this hair mask every 2 weeks or so to condition my hair since I will be using heat for the rest of the year. What hair masks have you ladies been using to condition your hair? Leave a comment below and I'll try it out! From one beauty lover to another, see you soon!